The Rooftop is an indoor-outdoor seating area that took the place of 3,500 seats in right field. (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post)

Taking a cue from the restaurants and bars that surround Coors Field, the Colorado Rockies have added an upper level right-field deck they hope will lure fans of good food and drink (if not baseball) to the ballpark.

With curtained cabanas, a rectangular firepit, sofas and coffee tables that feel more like a resort than a baseball stadium, the new Rooftop is open to anyone with a game ticket. General admission starts at $14 (some games will be higher) and the ticket includes a credit for $6 worth of food and/or drinks anywhere in the park.

The Rooftop is open two hours before game time, with batting practice drink specials: $3 12-ounce Coors and Coors Light, and 16-ounce craft beers for $6 in April and May.

Eatmore Burgers and Brats: Eatmore will sell craft burgers, brats and fries in a contemporary space.

Pigtrain Coffee: The Mile High City’s family-owned Novo Coffee will serve locally-roasted coffees and pastries in a room with a steampunk vibe and butcher-block tables.

The Cooper Lounge: This high-end bar on Union Station’s second floor will overlook the Great Hall. It is billed as having a Hollywood vibe, craft cocktails and a large beverage list.

The Terminal Bar: Housed on the east side of the Great Hall, the Terminal Bar will feature Union Station’s original ticket windows and an outdoor patio overlooking Wynkoop Street. Lots of Colorado craft beers and a big wine list. (Denver’s original Terminal Bar, a legendary dive, sat at the intersection of Wazee and 17th Street until Jax Fish House replaced it in 1996.)

The restaurants will be part of a high-flying dining scene at the historic station. Also on board is another outlet for Snooze, the breakfast-lunch spot; The Kitchen Next Door, Mercantile Dining and Provision (courtesy of Fruition’s Alex Seidel) and Stoic and Genuine Fish, a seafood restaurant operated by Jennifer Jasinski and Beth Gruitch (Rioja, Euclid Hall, Bistro Vendome.)

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Chef Troy Guard’s sixth restaurant, Guard and Grace, opens for dinner Friday, March 14 at 1801 California St. in a restaurant-scarce part of central downtown. It calls itself a steakhouse, but the restaurant design and the menu project a lighter, more modern image.

With lots of natural light and a menu full of seafood and veggie dishes, in addition to three types of steak, Guard and Grace will give other high-end restaurants some competition. More good news: it’s open for lunch and dinner (303-293-8500) . Here’s a preview:

Steak comes in Angus, prime and grass-fed, seasoned with Troy Guard’s custom spice blend. This is a prime New York Strip, and yes, it was as good as it looks. (Kristen Browning-Blas, The Denver Post)

The Pasty Republic will hold its grand opening in northwest Denver on March 21, and no, it’s not a gathering of wan and pale complexions. The shop celebrates the pasty (pronounced pass-tea), a traditional stuffed savory pastry from Cornwall, England, that resembles a large version of an empanada. (With baseball season approaching, we didn’t want to make an “empanada on steroids” joke, because, well, we just want to put that whole sordid sports episode behind us.)

The shop is the brainchild of Jon Walker and Sam Elhindi, the husband-and-wife owners. Walker grew up in Cornwall, a region compromising the far southwestern peninsula of England. Since arriving in the United States to study at the University of Colorado, he felt frustrated by his inability to find the delectables.

“We felt this is a place that’s perfect for pasties,” Elhindi told The Denver Post. “When you fall in love with a place you want to share what you love with that place. We hope we’re here at the right place and the right time.”

The shop sits at 4166 Tennyson St., close to Tennyson Park. It will be open daily from 11 a.m.-9 p.m., and probably later on busy nights.

Walker and Elhindi visited Cornwall to learn more about making pasties, and actually flew in James Barnecutt, a Cornish pasty chef whose family has owned pasty shops for generations, to perfect making pastries at altitude. They will offer 10 varieties at the cozy, 12-seat restaurant: three beef, three chicken, two veggie and two sweet versions, with the latter including a Nutella version and a fruit-filled one.

“We want it to be a real Cornwall pasty with a Colorado spin,” Elhindi said.

I can personally vouch for how delicious a proper pasty can be. I spent 14 years in Arizona, and the charming little copper-mining town of Bisbee boasted a number of pasty shops, the legacy of Cornish miners who were imported to work there in the early years of the 20th century.

Restaurant Kevin Taylor will close March 30 after 15 years in Hotel Teatro, as the hotel undergoes a multimillion-dollar renovation.

The 52-year-old chef said in an interview that the parting is “positive and mutual in a good way. They want a different direction and we wanted a different direction, so we worked it out.”

His Kevin Taylor Restaurant Group employs about 200 people at Palettes at the Denver Art Museum, Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House, Limelight Supper Club, and Rouge and the Teller Bar in the Central City Opera House. The group also runs catering operations at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, Denver Art Museum and the Clyfford Still Museum.

Since the 1,500-square-foot restaurant opened in 1998, dining has become more informal, says Taylor, and it was time for a change. “Fifteen years ago, it was about luxury dining and everybody getting dressed up. It’s just not about that any more. Downtown’s really changing, we’re getting bigger restaurants, lots of steak.”Read more…

Olive & Finch, the sandwich shop/bakery from Mary Nguyen of Parallel 17 and Street Kitchen fame, open since late December 2013, is drawing crowds and praise from all quarters. Last week, the charming place made it onto two “best new restaurant” lists — from 5280 and Westword.

Travel editor (and former dining critic) Kyle Wagner and I wandered in for lunch recently and there was Mary, taking orders and serving sandwiches, salads and desserts to tables full of enthusiastic diners.

Arch Pizza is opening its third Denver store — and their new flagship — on March 8. (Photo courtesy Arch Pizza)

OK, here’s something you don’t see every Saturday: Arch Pizza is opening its third area store on March 8, and the Denver band My Body Sings Electric will make a cameo performance.

Pizza and rock ‘n’ roll: Yep, that’s a combination that works, as any musician who has ever toiled in a garage rehearsal or jonesed for needed post-gig fuel can attest. And their fans know, too.

Arch Pizza serves a St. Louis-style pie, and locals are getting familiar with what folks back in Missouri already know: The ‘za boasts a super-thin crust cut into squares, not triangular wedges. And it’s made with Provel cheese, a St. Louis brand that is a processed blend of cheddar, Swiss and provolone that is creamier and tangier than mozzarella.

It’s different, and the family-run biz knows this and embraces it. (Yes, they also serve toasted ravioli, a St. Louis specialty known in the Show Me State as “T-ravs.”)

The new store, which will be the flagship is at 10101 E. Hampden Ave. It’s regular Saturday operating hours will be 11 a.m.-10 p.m., but for the grand opening it will stay open until midnight. We’re told that My Body Sings Electric will play 6 p.m.-10 p.m.

And a shout-out to the band, whose new album hit, “Part 1: The Night Ends,” the Billboard charts for indie groups.

Rock — and nosh — on.

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The Kitchen Next Door Glendale opened with a fundraiser Feb. 25. (Kristen Browning-Blas)

The Kitchen Next Door, the latest addition to Glendale’s CitySet project, opened this week. The new kid on the block joins Jax Fish House, Udi’s, Big Smoke Burger, World of Beer, Cuba Cuba Sandwicheria and Native Foods Cafe.

Denver musician and Trader Joe’s enthusiast Julie Geller loves the soon-to-open grocery store so much, she wrote a song about it. The video for “I’m Camping Out at Trader Joe’s” was shot on location around Denver and at the construction site on 8th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.

All three Colorado Trader Joe’s are set to open 8 a.m. Friday, Feb. 14, with a traditional lei-cutting, says the California-based company. The Colorado Boulevard store is the only one that will sell beer, wine and liquor.Read more…

It’s the end of an era for sushi fans in downtown Denver: Sonoda’s Sushi, which has enjoyed nearly a 19-year run at 1620 Market St., closes its doors on Saturday Feb. 15.

The closing is a combination of being unable to work out a desirable lease, plus the fact that he’s been in the restaurant business for more than 40 years, said owner Kenny Sonoda.

“When you turn 65 you start thinking about retirement,” Sonoda told the Post. “Maybe my time has come. It’s hard to say. My mom passed away three years ago. Maybe she’s saying something to me from the sky.”

Sonoda, who grew up in Japan, came to Denver in 1973 to help build and open the Gasho of Denver, a Japanese hibachi-style steak house at 1627 Curtis St. Three years later Sonoda built a free-standing replica of a 400-year-old Gasho farm house modeled after one in Japan’s Takayama City, sister city to Denver. It sat in the Denver Tech Center near Belleview and Interstate 25, where Shanahan’s Steakhouse now stands.

He opened his first Sonoda’s Sushi in Aurora in 1988, making one of the pioneers in introducing sushi and sashimi to Denver before opening his LoDo location in 1995. That’s a lot of toro, unagi and crab rolls.Read more…